Fry baskets are used to support food in a cooking medium, which is generally a liquid medium, with the food immersed therein. Usually where food is prepared and cooked by deep fat frying, a fry basket is immersed in the hot fat to the point where the food is completely covered by the fat.
Fry baskets have been developed for use with individual serving portions of various types of food, such as pie pieces or fish filets, wherein a plurality of compartments are provided for holding the food distributed in the basket with one serving portion to a compartment.
In the past, types of fry baskets described above have been constructed from stainless steel or other types of metal. It has been found that construction of these types of fry baskets from steel or other metal has certain disadvantages. For example, compared to many other materials that might possibly be used, the metal basket generally weighs more and thus is more difficult to handle. Metal also tends to stick to many food products. Further, an all metal basket has a greater potential for marring, scratching, or denting surfaces which it contacts. Also of considerable importance with today's high energy costs, an all metal basket has a relatively high heat capacity and therefore absorbs some of the heat from the cooking liquid. Heat absorbed by the metal basket is not absorbed by the food and is therefore wasted. It would be more desirable to direct as much heat from the cooking liquid as possible to the food items to be cooked rather than to the fry basket.